Sliding side jaw wrench having a worm gear adjustment gear



June 1967 G. J. LANZETTA 3,326,068

SLIDING SIDE JAW WRENCH HAVING A WORM GEAR ADJUSTMENT GEAR Filed Nov. 15, 1965 IN VENTOR. GEORGE J. LANZETTA B Y/ Z A TTORNEX United States Patent 3,326,068 SLIDING SIDE JAW WRENCH HAVING A WORM GEAR ADJUSTMENT GEAR George J. Lanzetta, 464 Fulton St., Farmingdale, N.Y. 11735 Filed Nov. 15, 1965, Ser. No. 507,840 6 Claims. (Cl. 81165) This invention relates to an adjustable wrench assembly and more particularly to one that is adjustable and operable from a remote location.

Many types of machines present servicing difficulties simply because the nut or bolt workpieces to be serviced are difiicult to reach. In order to alleviate this problem, fixed or non-adjustable wrench heads have been designed with detachable handles so that the appropriate wrench head may engage a nut or a bolt positioned in a remote location or in a place that is difficult to reach and a suitable handle connected thereto to operate the wrench from an accessible remote location. However, the solution to the problem is unreasonably expensive since a serviceman is required to purchase and carry a complete set of wrench heads with him that will fit nuts and bolts of different shapes and sizes every time he must work on them.

While adjustable wrenches have been provided with detachable quarters, these present problems in that they must first be adjusted to the proper size of the workpiece before they can be used. Normally, the cramped quarters and remote location of the workpiece prevent the serviceman from reaching the wrench head and adjusting its jaws While it is on the workpiece. Accordingly, a trial and error method is utilized whereby the serviceman first adjusts the wrench, fits it on the workpiece, removes it, and then readjusts the wrench if it does not fit until the wrench engages the workpiece in a non-rotatable grip. It is obvious that this method is extremely time consuming, cumbersome and uneconomical.

One attempt at solving this problem is disclosed in the United States Patent No. 3,171,307 granted to Jamal. Unfortunately, the handle there employed functions both to adjust the jaws and operate the wrench. In consequence, the same has certain inherent defects among which is the continued application of a closing force on the jaws that tends to distort and damage a deformable workpiece.

Accordingly, a desideratum of the present invention is to provide an adjustable Wrench assembly that is ideally suited for use in cramped quarters and which may be adjusted from a remote location, thereby eliminating the trial and error method normally used to adjust wrenches to size.

Another object and feature of the invention is to provide an adjustable wrench assembly that incorporates a simple novel structure that enables adjustment of the wrench jaws from a remote location.

Other and further objects of this invention reside in the structures and arrangements hereinafter more fully described with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a rear elevational view of an adjustable wrench assembly constructed according to the present invention and with parts thereof shown in section,

FIG. 2 is a side elevational View of the wrench assembly shown in FIG. 1, as seen looking from the left, and

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the wrench assembly shown in FIG. 1, as seen looking from the right.

The adjustable wrench assembly of the present invention is designated generally by the numeral in FIGS. 1 to 3 and includes a head 12. The head 12 has an intermediate body section 14 that terminates in a short integral narrow necked portion 16. Provided in the neck portion 16 is a substantially rectangular through aperture hoe 18 that is adapted to receive a complementary formed handle therein (not shown) to rotate the assembly 10 from a remote location. The axis of the aperture 18 is perpendicular to the plane of the head 12.

Integral with and upstanding from an end of the intermediate body section 14 as taken in FIG. 1, is a jaw 20. A longitudinal open-ended slot 24 is defined in the top edge of the section 14. The slot 24 extends through the section 14 below the fixed jaw 20. Provided in the section 14 adjacent the right edge, as taken in FIG. 1, is a transversely extending through opening 26 which is positioned below the slot 24 and in communication therewith.

A movable jaw 28 having a bottom longitudinal extension 30 is mounted on the head 12. The extension 30 is sized and positioned so its surfaces coincide with and conform to the size and shape of the walls defining the slot 24 to be slidably received therein. In this way, the jaw 28 can be guided in its movement toward and away from the fixed jaw 20, thereby to adjust the spacing between the jaws to accommodate differently sized workpieces, as nuts and bolts. The bottom surface of the extension 30 is provided with a plurality .of spaced rack teeth 32. The teeth 32 are sized and positioned to extend into and obstruct a portion of the opening 26 in the wrench head 12.

A bore 34 extends longitudinally through the intermediate section 14 and is approximately centrally located with respect to the opening 26. A Worm gear 36 is received in the opening 26 in meshing engagement with the plurality of rack teeth 32. The worm gear 36 is rotatably connected to the head 12 by an axial shaft 38 that is rotatably guided in the bore 34 and fixedly receives the worm gear 36 thereon. The shaft 38 may be affixed in place by swaging the ends thereof, for example. Accordingly, when the Worm gear 36 is rotated, the rack teeth 32 are engaged to move the jaw 28 thereby.

In accordance with the present invention, an adjustment gear 40 is mounted on the side of the head 12 by a laterally extending axial shaft 42 for rotation about an axis perpendicular to the plane of the axis of the Worm gear 36. The gear 40 is in meshing engagement with the worm gear 36 so that a rotation of the gear 40 causes a corresponding rotation of the worm gear 36 which, in turn, causes movement of the movable jaw 28 toward and away from the jaw 26. Provided on the outer surface of the gear 40 is a recess 44 that is of a convenient size and shape to releasably and non-rotatably receive a complementary formed tool therein, as the end of a screw driver (not shown), so that the gear 40 may be rotated from a remote location independently of any wrench actuator that may be afiixed in the aperture 18.

A set screw 46 is threadedly received in the head 12 wih the head of the set screw located on the same side of the head 12 that supports the gear 40. Similar to the gear 40, the set screw 46 is provided with a convenient recess 48 that is adapted to releasably and non-rotatably receive a complementary formed tool therein, as a screw driver, so that the set screw may be rotated from a remote location. The set screw 46 is sized and positioned so that when it is tightened, it will frictionally engage the shaft 38 to prevent rotation thereof and thereby prevent undesired movement of the jaw 28.

In operation, the worm gear 36 is rotated so that the jaws 20 and 28 are spaced apart a distance approximating the size of the workpiece. A handle (not shown) is then inserted into the aperture 18 and the wrench assembly 10 is placed onto the nut, ball or other workpiece that is to turned. If the space between the jaws 20 and 28 is not equal to the size of the workpiece, a suitable tool is inserted into the recess 44 and is rotated thereby to rotate the adjustment gear 40. This causes the jaw 28 to move 3,32e,oes

correspondingly in the manner noted above until the workpiece is firmly and non-rotatably engaged by the jaws 2G and 28. Thereafter, a suitable tool may be placed in the recess 48 to rotate the set screw 46 until the set screw tightly abuts the shaft 38 to maintain the jaw 28 in its adjusted, engaged position.

The handle (not shown) may then be operated to rotate the assembly thereby to loosen or tighten the nut, ball or other workpiece, as the case may be. The adjustment tools and handles that rotate the elements comprising the assembly 10 may be designated in a number of different lengths and shapes to facilitate the rotation of the elements from a remote, accessible location, The abovedescribed operation may be reversed when it is desired to remove the adjustable wrench assembly 10 from the particular nut, bolt or workpiece.

Accordingly, an adjustable wrench assembly has been provided that is easily adjustable from a remote location and which, therefore, is ideally suited for use in normally inaccessible locations.

While there have been shown and described and pointed out the fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the device illustrated and in its operation may be made by those skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the claims appended hereto.

I claim:

1. An, adjustable wrench assembly comprising in combination a head having a fixed jaw and a narrow neck portion,

a longitudinal open-ended slot in said head,

an opening in said head communicating with said slot,

a movable jaw including a longitudinal extension slidably received in said slot,

a plurality of rack teeth on said extension extending into said opening,

a worm gear positioned in said opening and in meshing engagement with said rack teeth whereby rotation of said worm gear causes movement of said movable jaw,

shaft means rotatably received in said head fixedly receiving the worm gear thereon to connect said worm gear to said head for rotational movement with respect thereto,

and adjustment means rotatably mounted on said head in engagement with said worm gear for rotating said worm gear in a preselected direction thereby to move said movable jaw in a desired direction said adjustment means comprising an adjustment gear rotatably mounted on said head in meshing engagement with said worm gear, the axis of rotation of said adjustment gear being perpendicular to the plane of the axis of rotation of the worm gear.

2. A wrench assembly as in claim 1,

wherein said adjustment gear is provided with operating means on the outer surface thereof adapted to be engaged by a complementary formed member for rotating the adjustment gear from a remote location.

3. A wrench assembly as in claim 2,

and stop means on said head for maintaining the movable jaw in a fixed position,

said stop means comprising a set screw threadedly engaged in said head and being rotatable to abut said shaft in a tight frictional fit thereby to prevent rotation of the worm gear.

4. A wrench assembly as in claim 3,

and means on said set screw adapted to be engaged by a complementary formed device for rotating said set screw to abut the shaft from a remote location.

5. A wrench assembly as in claim 2,

and a substantially rectangular aperture in said neck portion adapted to receive a complementary formed handle for rotating the wrench assembly from a remote location, the axis of said aperture being perpendicular to the plane of said head.

6. An adjustable wrench assembly comprising in combination a head having a fixed jaw and a narrow neck portion provided with an aperture adapted to non-rotatably receive a handle therein,

a contoured longitudinal open-ended slot in said head,

a passage in said head positioned below said fixed jaw communicating with said slot,

an opening in said head communicating with said slot,

a movable jaw including a longitudinal extension slidably received in said slot and said passage,

said extension the surfaces of which have a cross-section corresponding to the contour of said slot and engageable with the defining walls thereof, whereby the surfaces of said extension engage the walls of said slot to guide the movement of said extension in said slot and to prevent lateral movement of said movable jaw with respect to said head,

a plurality of rack teeth on said extension extending into said opening,

a worm gear rotatably received in said opening in meshing engagement with said rack teeth whereby rotation of said worm gear causes movement of said movable and an adjustment gear rotatably mounted on said head in meshing engagement with said worm gear, whereby rotation of said adjustment gear causes movement of said movable jaw,

and a recess in the outer surface of said adjustment gear sized and positioned to releasably and non-rotatably receive a tool therein for rotation of said adjustment gear from a remote location.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 186,954 2/1877 Richards 81165 1,148,410 7/1915 Smith et al. 8l165 1,391,180 9/1921 Evans et al 81l65 1,512,846 10/1924 Gump-recht 8l165 2,385,660 9/1945 Truby 8l165 2,586,293 2/1952 Birkigt 74-425 2,600,617 6/1952 Coates 81-165 2,855,991 10/1958 Loucony 7489.14 X

FOREIGN PATENTS 616,968 3/1961 Canada.

WILLIAM FELDMAN, Primary Examiner.

MILTON S. MEHR, Examiner. 

1. AN ADJUSTABLE WRENCH ASSEMBLY COMPRISING IN COMBINATION A HEAD HAVING A FIXED JAW AND A NARROW NECK PORTION, A LONGITUDINAL OPEN-ENDED SLOT IN SAID HEAD, AN OPENING IN SAID HEAD COMMUNICATING WITH SAID SLOT, A MOVABLE JAW INCLUDING A LONGITUDINAL EXTENSION SLIDABLY RECEIVED IN SAID SLOT, A PLURALITY OF RACK TEETH ON SAID EXTENSION EXTENDING INTO SAID OPENING, A WORM GEAR POSITIONED IN SAID OPENING AND IN MESHING ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID RACK TEETH WHEREBY ROTATION OF SAID WORM GEAR CAUSES MOVEMENT OF SAID MOVABLE JAW, SHAFT MEANS ROTATABLY RECEIVED IN SAID HEAD FIXEDLY RECEIVING THE WORM GEAR THEREON TO CONNECT SAID WORM GEAR TO SAID HEAD FOR ROTATIONAL MOVEMENT WITH RESPECT THERETO, AND ADJUSTMENT MEANS ROTATABLY MOUNTED ON SAID HEAD IN ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID WORM GEAR FOR ROTATING SAID WORM GEAR IN A PRESELECTED DIRECTION THEREBY TO MOVE SAID MOVABLE JAW IN A DESIRED DIRECTION SAID ADJUSTMENT MEANS COMPRISING AN ADJUSTMENT GEAR ROTATABLY MOUNTED ON SAID HEAD IN MESHING ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID WORM GEAR, THE AXIS OF ROTATION OF SAID ADJUSTMENT GEAR BEING PERPENDICULAR TO THE PLANE OF THE AXIS OF ROTATION OF THE WORM GEAR. 